Saturday, September 30, 2006

StockIM - Serving the Small Cap Sector - Another Place to Find Me

There are many communities of interest out there that are somehow connected to IP communications, and there are also many ways to connect these communities together. This is something I enjoy doing, and am always looking at ways of doing this.

One of my current explorations is with StockIM, whose focus is serving the small cap sector.


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What's neat about StockIM is that their portal has a Voice 2.0 flavor in that it marries various forms of news,research and analysis about small caps along with an IM platform to enable real time discussion among the community following these companies. I have no doubt that these features will evolve, and maybe they'll move from chat to voice or even video. The technology is there, and this is a community that lacks for good information and knowledgeable experts.

My blog is linked to their site, and hopefully this will drive traffic in both directions - from the small cap crowd to the IP blogosphere, and vice versa. You can also read more about my offerings to this community in the Partnership section of their website.


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Friday, September 29, 2006

Unified Communications - Ken Camp's New Initiative

My path doesn't cross enough with Ken Camp, but he's got a lot of great things going on, which is why he's on my core blog roll. Just a heads-up to say Ken has re-positioned things here, and his new site, Unified Communications is the successor to Realtime VoIP, which came out last year. So, for those who follow Ken please take note of this, and update your blog rolls.

Also, have a visit to the new website when you can. There was a terrific posting yesterday about all the attention the likes of Jajah and Rebtel are getting, and how this fits into the Voice 2.0 vision Ken is evangelizing via his broader focused unified communications umbrella.

Sidebar - I've not met Ken, and am looking forward to doing so next month when I come out his way at TMC's ITExpo in San Diego.


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Skype Blocking/San Jose U. Story Addendum

I haven't been commenting directly on this story, where San Jose State University had been pushing to block on Skype on campus, and by extension, other broadband-based applications stood to be at risk. On that note, I mentioned about how this could include video calling services such as SightSpeed, an emerging market leader that I have been following.

This comment happened be part of a post where I was lauding SightSpeed's recent success as being chosen the top video calling app by PC Magazine. That issue is now online, and you can read more about it here.

I'm revisiting this because some clarity is needed on the SJSU issue. I won't get into the technical details - that's not my thing - but in short, not all forms of peer-to-peer are based on the Skype model. Others can explain this better than me, but I wanted to share some commentary on this from Peter Csathy, SightSpeed's CEO. In true Web 2.0 fashion, Peter walks the talk, and provides a nice update on things via a video message.

Aside from the fact that this clip demonstrates SightSpeed's quality very nicely, about halfway into the message, Peter provides a short explanation of how SightSpeed does not use super nodes the way Skype does, which makes theirs a purer, more direct form of P2P. One benefit here is that SightSpeed will not have the firewall blocking problems that Skype runs up against in large institutions. Since SightSpeed does voice as well as video, it stands to be a better enterprise solution. By all means, watch the clip - it's just a few minutes, and you'll see for yourself.

While I've got you, SightSpeed is really on a roll. Check out this posting from Andy Abramson that just broke late last night. MTV is now using SightSpeed on its Total Request Live program. This demographic will totally get what SightSpeed is all about, and it's an ideal place to showcase the technology. This is a great company to watch, folks.


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Nokia N90 Blog Site - VON Highlights on my Phone

I've cited the Nokia blogger program a number of times before. It's a great initiative that Andy Abramson has put together for them, and I'm one of the beneficiaries who gets to try out these really cool phones.

I'm not a gadget guy, and there are endless posts on the N90 blog site about all the features, so I really don't have anything to add on that count. However, the N90 is my everyday phone, and clumsy as it is to carry around, I really use it more as my camera and camcorder. It allows me great freedom to be spontaneous and capture a moment on the fly, and I find myself using it as much for in-the-street shots/videos, as I do for more formal settings. Of course, the photo quality is wildly uneven, but being digital, it's so easy just to delete the duds and keep the good ones.

On that note, I recently posted my visual highlights of Fall VON here, and the post was picked up on the Nokia N90 blog a few days ago. I'm a bit late getting around to this, but it's still worth citing here. For those of you who want to dive deep into what this phone is all about, this blog is the place to go.

FYI, there is a separate blog page for the Nokia N91, and other blogs are coming for the next wave of Nokias. The N91 is a sleeker version of the N90, and followers of this blog may know that my 13 year old son, Max, uses this as his everyday phone. How many 13 year olds can top that? His review of the N91 was recently posted to the Nokia blog.


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Thursday, September 28, 2006

Canadian IP Thought Leaders Series - Andrew Hurrell on OSS

This week's podcast was with Andrew Hurrell. He's the Marketing Director with Ottawa-based Atreus Systems, one of the leading IP plays focused OSS. Andrew provided a good overview on the evolving role of OSS in the IP world, and how it's enabling carriers to deploy and support new services. On top of that, IP-based OSS enables bundling for various types of services, and Andrew talked about some of the ways carriers can now create customized service bundles for specific markets or verticals. We also talked about what makes Ottawa so conducive for so many vendors focused on the IP sector.

You can download the podcast here, as well as read more about Andrew's background.



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Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Fall VON - Video Posting - One Last Look

The buzz for Fall VON is pretty much over now, so this is not a news item. I wanted to share it with you anyway, since VON is so much about video now.

One of Jeff's new ventures is PulverTV, and during the show, they did a number of vidcasts from the floor. I managed to squeeze one in on the last day, and it's finally been posted on their site. Jennie Bourne is behind the camera, and she's handling most of the production work for PulverTV. Hope you like it - just runs about 4 minutes. Thanks for asking me over, Jen!

UPDATE - the clip has also been posted to the Pulvermedia Podcast Network site as well, so you can access it from there as well.

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Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Red Sox Fade to Third - Down and Out

The Red Sox season has been over for a while, and I'm not going to get into that now. Last night they played the finale of a 4 game set here in Toronto, and it was the Jays's last home game of the season. The Sox played like they cared in the first two games, but went out meekly and quietly in the last two. Taking 3 of 4, the Jays slipped past the Sox, moving 1/2 a game ahead into second place. Oy.

Sorry folks, but I can't remember the last time the Sox were in 3rd place this late in the year, and the same for the Jays being in 2nd place. Well, being a Sox fan living in Toronto, it was a strange game last night. I was in the cheap seats courtesy of a baseball buddy who talked me into coming out to the game. I expected the Sox to be flat, boy, did they deliver.

So, that's all I'm gonna say - I'm sad to say I was witness to this trading of places in the standings. It may not last, but for a least a day, the Jays can be pretty happy about where they are. Actually, they've had a great season considering their injuries, and they will definitely be a factor next year and beyond.

For what it's worth, the combined payrolls of the Jays and Sox are a touch less than the Yankees. I think if you took the best 10 guys from each team and put them together, the Red Jays could give the Yanks a good run for the money. But that's not gonna happen, and boy, do the Sox have some work to do in the off season.

Here's the view from 500 level seats in the Rogers Center courtesy of my Nokia N90 - I can't imagine being this far away from the action in any ball park, and I've been to quite a few.

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Monday, September 25, 2006

SightSpeed Scoring High Marks

I've been following SightSpeed for a while now, and think they've got a great offering - not just for video calling - but for voice, just like Skype. They're a client of Andy Abramson, who has a great knack for attracting leading edge and emerging technologies.

I just wanted to note some great validation in the current issue of PC Magazine. It's not posted online yet, but SightSpeed comes out rated very highly in Davis Janowski's article titled "Free Video Calls", and their lab testing concluded by saying "SightSpeed rules".

When you hear this coming from the venerable likes of PC Magazine, you know that video calling has arrived, and SightSpeed is setting the pace. Those of us who have been following SightSpeed know this already, and it's great to see the mainstream media picking up on this as well.

That said, there's a worrisome development happening in a most unlikely place. San Jose State University is proposing to block Skype from use on campus. With parent eBay right around the corner, one has to wonder what's behind this, but the bigger concern is that if they block Skype, why not block Google, Yahoo, etc.? And if you block VoIM services, why not block video while you're at it?

This wouldn't be welcome news for the likes of SightSpeed, so with this latest validation coming for them - and video calling in general - San Jose State's proclamation seems like a giant step backwards. If anything video calling would be even more valuable on campus than voice. Think of the applications for e-learning and distance learning, the latter being a great source of new revenue if done right. Something just seems wrong with this picture (pardon the bad pun), so stay tuned as things develop.


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Cody' Digital Revolution Newsletter

I've known Cody Willard for some time, and I wanted to let people know that he's just launched his own investor newsletter. Cody runs a successful hedge fund and is a well-known, outspoken writer/market commentator.

In his inaugural issue, Cody talks about why he thinks 5 companies are well positioned to be big winners in the "Digital Revolution" - NewsCorp, Citrix, Google, Apple and Microsoft. Citrix may be a bit of a surprise here, but Cody has his reasons. Cody writes well, and even for mainstream stocks like Microsoft and Apple, he makes a good case as to why they are poised to do well.

To see more about the newsletter, here's the link. Also, if you'd like to see the first issue in its entirety, drop me a line and I can send a pdf version to you.


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Friday, September 22, 2006

Canadian IP Thought Leaders Series - Vonage Canada

On this week's podcast, I spoke with Joe Parent, Vonage Canada's VP of Marketing and Business Development. I've been wanting to podcast with Vonage for a while, and the time has finally come.

The big picture Vonage story is well covered everywhere, but the Canadian operation doesn't get as much attention, and there's a good story here that needs to be told. I've been following them from Day 1, and one of my very first blog postings was about their open house celebrating their new offices and 1st anniversary back in April 2005.

Joe and I talked about the state of the VoIP market up here, and the challenges all the pureplay VoIP providers face. Aside from what you'd normally expect us to talk about, Joe also focused on the marketing realities up here, and how it's so much tougher than what Vonage corporate faces in the U.S. Imagine if Verizon had a tie-up with MSN or Yahoo, and blocked VoIP competitors like Vonage from doing online advertising on those portals? Or if AT&T owned the NYT and CNBC and wouldn't let competitors advertise there?

Well, that's what it's like here in Canada. We have a very high degree of concentrated ownership in many industries, and the lines between media properties and telcos are blurred in many areas. In short, Vonage's lifeblood is mass marketing to attract subscribers, and many of the best channels that are widely used in the U.S. are closed to them in Canada. This is a problem that won't get fixed any time soon, and it forces Vonage Canada to be more creative in reaching the market with their message. Of course this also holds true for their competitors up here, so it's not just a Vonage story. However, at least you'll get some sense about what the Canadian VoIP players are up against in this podcast.

You can download the podcast here, as well as read more about Joe's background.

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Thursday, September 21, 2006

Deloitte Fast 50 - Canada's Best

The Globe & Mail had some nice coverage today of the Deloitte Fast 50 Awards, making this a good target for tech companies to watch.

The coverage highlighted a few companies I've been watching, especially Ottawa-based Objectworld, and Toronto-based Impact Mobile. I'll certainly be commenting on these and others in this list as interesting news develops, and plan to do some podcasts with them later in the year, when some spots open up.

It was also nice to see Deloitte's John Ruffolo get some ink. He's Deloitte's tech/telecom/media national practice leader, and I did a podcast with him earlier in the year. I'll look to do another with him soon to talk more about the winners and what it takes to get there.


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VoIP Bundles You Can Feel Safe About

Fellow blogger Garrett Smith had an interesting post today about the role home alarm services can play to help VoIP providers differentiate themselves in the market with their bundles. The news element to this post was that Alarm.com has just announced a deal with SunRocket, to go along with the deal they have with Vonage.

Mark Evans is pretty skeptical, and Andy Abramson sees some merit. Speaking of Andy, I just had to mention that he's been experimenting with videoblogging, as followers of his blog would know by now. He posted a fun one today, which I especially like since he's wearing a Red Sox hat.

Back to the story. So, I'm somewhere in the middle between Mark and Andy. While Garrett is reporting on the news aspect of the story, it's not all that new. Vonage discovered early on that their service did not support all home security services, and this sure was a rude shock to some subscribers. It's just one of those things you don't really think about when deciding to sign up for VoIP.

Well, we're well along that path now, and sure, home alarm over IP is a great service to offer in the bundle. I'm with Mark though - it's really a me-too service, and it won't take long for the cablecos and telcos to add a variation on this themselves. I was at an analyst breakfast this week for Allstream/MTS, and when they were talking about the consumer market, Manitoba Telecom is already doing the quintuple play - forget about the Triple Play. Home security is in this mix, along with wireline voice, wireless, broadband and digital TV. So, if little Manitoba Tel can do it, so can most everybody else.

To me, the bigger story - and challenge for the pureplay VoIP operators - is to build on this idea even further, and start looking at their customers not as consumers of communications services, but as inhabitants of the smart home. We're not there yet, of course, but once fiber gets to the home, that connection will able to host a huge variety of services - voice, data and video. Home security is just the beginning - the cool stuff will be around things like surveillance, automated home controls and virtual personal services.

These are things that providers like Vonage and SunRocket could really run with and call their own. The beauty of being an IP-based pureplay is that you can be anything you want to be, and serve customers anywhere. You're not bound by the footprint of your physical network, and you're not boxed in by the legacy of being a telco or a cableco. So, to me, this is the one area the VoIP pureplays have an inherent advantage, and home security is a smart first step along the way to creating a value proposition that the big players will have trouble matching. The trick is to do it differently so it's not a me-too. That will be hard, but at least this is an area where they have a head start, and this is the time to get it right - before the MSOs take over the market and the telcos come in with both feet.

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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

AT&T/Counterpath Launch Softphone Application

One of the best stories making news at Fall VON last week was the launch of a softphone service for AT&T's CallVantage VoIP service. It's big news on two fronts. First, it shows innovation on AT&T's part by offering both landline and PC-based VoIP for the mass market. As big as AT&T may be, this news shows they can be just as nimble as the competition, and are now making a very good product even better. It also shows they are open to working with smaller vendors, which Tier 1s don't do very readily, so kudos to them for supporting the startup ecosystem.

Secondly, it's great news for Counterpath, a small company who has been leading the way in the softphone space for some time - previously known as Xten. Their eyeBeam 1.5 SIP softphone is particularly interesting because it supports both voice and video calling. So, CallVantage customers can do a lot more now than just make cheap phone calls. Oh, and did I mention they're Canadian? Chalk up another good win for the Great White North, eh.

It's also worth noting that Counterpath is the softphone used by many other VoIP providers, including Vonage, Packet 8, Earthlink and Telio. I mention this because early on, I recall Vonage talking about their softphone offering - back when Counterpath was called Xten. From all I can tell, Vonage hasn't done much with the softphone to differentiate themselves. Packet 8 certainly took this much futher by investing a lot in a videophone offering. It didn't get them very far, but at least they dared to be different.

It looks to me like AT&T has taken these same softphone apps a lot farther than Vonage has, which is not really what's supposed to happen. Unfortunately, Vonage has taken a lot of flak for losing its edge and not innovating enough. AT&T is in a great position to really ramp up CallVantage, and the softphone offering makes it look like a pretty nice package. This is not good news for Vonage, but frankly, I think that's a secondary concern for AT&T. The cablecos are getting all the attention now as their VoIP subs continue to boom, and the pressure is really on AT&T and Verizon to stay competitive.

If you're still with me, this is a long-winded post initially designed to get you to Andy Abramson's post from yesterday. He's a long time CallVantage user - and a happy one - and his post is a great example of how AT&T has got enough marketing smarts to stay in the game. Have a listen...


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QuickPlay Gets Funding

I've been following QuickPlay Media for some time - both on my blog and via podcast - and it's great to hear that they secured funding last week. They're doing good things in the burgeoning mobile content space, and being Toronto-based, are particularly close to home for me. With RIM's Pearl coming out now, I think you'll be hearing more about QuickPlay soon. They announced their media partners that support the Blackberry last week at CTIA, and I'm sure Pearl won't be far behind.

Hat tip to Mark Evans on this one, and as Mark noted yesterday, it's great to see that a Toronto-based VC - JL Albright Ventures - was part of the round.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Fall VON Podcast #2

I have 2 things left to post from Fall VON, and was hoping to do them at once. The podcast is ready now, but not the video segment - I'll post the latter as soon as it's up.

So, this is my second podcast done from the floor - both with colleague Jim Courtney. The first one was about our impressions of the show, and that was posted the other day.

This podcast focused on the Canadian presence at the show, which I'd have to say was pretty good. Jim and I basically talked about the Canadian exhibitors, and some of the good things that are happening for them.

To hear the Canadian flag being waved at VON, download the pod here.


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Monday, September 18, 2006

TalkingTech - More Canadian Podcasting

Fellow Canadian Mark Evans cover tech as well as anybody up here, and he's been doing so with the National Post for several years. His blog is great reading, and Mark covers a lot of ground very well - both for the paper and on his blog.

He's also been podcasting for a while, doing so as a duo with Kevin Restivo. Until recently, Kevin has been on staff with Mark at the Post, but starting this month, he's moved to the analyst world, and is with Seaboard Group.

I didn't get to track the blogs much last week while at Fall VON, and it was nice to see Mark's post the other day announcing a new and improved podcast, now known as TalkingTech. I really like the name, and he's continuing on with Kevin, which is good news. As the post explains, they've got some branding help behind them, so the look and feel is very nice. Catchy intro music too! Looks like last week's pod was their first under this new moniker and persona. Way to go, guys.

Their pods are quite different than mine, as theirs is more of a tech news roundup for the week, and mine features a different interview guest each week. It's all good, and if you're looking to get more of your Canadian podcasting fix, please check out TalkingTech.


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Friday, September 15, 2006

VON Recap - the Rest of the Story

Just a few multimedia tidbits to share from the show. In case you get tired of reading about VON, you can also listen or watch more commentary! I did a couple of podcasts and a videocast from the floor at the Pulvermedia setup.

For now, only the first podcast has been posted, and you can download it here. I'll post the second one and the videocast as soon as they're up.

This podcast was done with fellow Canadian Jim Courtney. We're often at the same shows, and he's got a great blog on Skype Journal. We shared our overall impressions of the show. The second podcast was about all the Canadian companies we saw at the show - stay tuned for that one.

Speaking of Jim, I was asked to comment on a Skype/Mac story for MacNewsWorld during the show, and since he's so close to this space, we did the interview together. Here it is, if you'd like to read it. Thanks for helping out on this one, Jim.



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VON Recap - Loose Ends

Am not sure which is more stressful - tying up loose ends before going to a show, or catching up when you get back. I had every intention of posting first thing today, but one thing leads to another, and here we are, Friday night, finally getting this done.

I just wanted to add a few things to yesterday's post, which was more about the photos I took on my Nokia N90. Oh, and thanks Jeff - he was nice enough to cite my post on his blog this morning.

Here I'm just going to add some observations along with a few other things. First off, in terms of overall impressions, it was tough to gauge the experience. It was certainly a good show, but there were a number of distinct tracks, especially video, and for one person, it's impossible to see it all. In short, I liked what I saw, but really have no idea about the rest.

I'm sure the video content was very good, but for a guy like me, between briefings, biz dev, the occasional walk around the floor, doing some Pulvermedia podcasts and videocasts, and covering all the basic VoIP/telecom stuff that I need to do --- you get the idea. Oh, and yeah, steal some time to see the odd keynote and panel - plus speaking on one myself. There's just not any time left for all the other good stuff. I'm sure I'm not alone on this one. That's one variation of the VON blur Jeff likes to talk about.

So, what did I see? The first two keynotes - Jeff and Ted Leonsis. Aside from what I covered yesterday, I'll just add a few thoughts. These things have been blogged to death already, and it's old news by now, so I'll be brief. Hopefully I'm adding things you haven't seen yet. And if not, just move on to the rest of this post....

Jeff did his usual recap of how we got to this point with VoIP, but then used this to provide context for what's happening now in the broadcast sector. Aside from the reference I made yesterday to SecondLife, he cited other examples to make his point. One was a trailer for the film Ghost Rider - but this one was produced for the Internet, and watching it on the monitors, it was every bit as good as what you would see in the theater. This really got his point across that IP-based video is broadcast quality, and largely explains why it's so disruptive now. Another reality check was Jeff's reference to a recent blog posting of his showing 88 different sources that are broadcasting TV content over the Internet today. With so much content freely available this early in the game, things are happening quickly, and hats off to Jeff for trying to make sense of it all at this show. Building on lessons learned from the disruptive nature of VoIP on the telecom space, there were two sage takeaways from Jeff's keynote:

1. In Jeff's words, the question just begs to asked: "who starts the Vonage of TV?".

I didn't hear any answers, but you just know it's going to happen. Jeff noted you don't need ANYTHING to become an IP-based broadcast disruptor. You don't need a network, you don't need endpoints, and you don't even need content. The pieces are all out there, just waiting to be put together into something that works in a Broadcast 2.0 kind of way. It could be you, it could be me, or could be a high school geek. A few years back, this was Jeff's message at VON. It was us - the people in the room who had the opportunity to be innovators and disruptors with VoIP. It's safe to say that this turned out to be true for several people out there - and now it's time to do it again for broadcasting. Any takers?

2. Regulation will come to Broadcasting 2.0 - not if, but when. As with telecom, when the key stakeholders feel the pain, they will fight back to protect their turf. Hollywood is not oblivious to what VoIP is doing to the incumbents, and they've had a few scares already watching how the music business is being transformed before their eyes. Jeff's parting thoughts on this are exactly what he has been saying about telecom for years now - "don�t let the threat of regulation get in the way of innovation". Absolutely.

AOL's Ted Leonsis gave a really engaging keynote, and boy, was it well produced! Of course, if you were in his position at AOL, would you be doing things any differently? While a lot of mass marketing caters to the lowest common denominator, Ted has vision, and if anybody understands the essence of the mainstream Internet community, it's AOL. I've always felt that way, and what I saw in this keynote reaffirmed my long-held hunch that AOL has the raw DNA to make Web 2.0 real. Sure, their execution over the years has been off at times, but now is what matters. Take this very simple statement from his presentation - the success of Web 2.0 will be about "taking the things you need and transforming them into the things you love".

Pretty basic, but profound stuff. Sure, it's a bit like Big Brother, or learning to love the bomb, but the Internet generation is defined by the Web, and we're at a point now where almost every facet of our life can be expressed or experienced online. This is WAY more powerful than any medium before the Web, all of which are static, and uni-directional. Seeing all the neat stuff AOL has going today, you look at them and say yeah, they get it.

He demonstrated many examples of Internet driven content catering to all types of tastes, and stressed another basic point - "the Internet makes things better". One great example was showing how most search pages are text-based. He then showed a Web 2.0 version of search, with Madonna as the topic. This search was far richer, turning up all kinds of multimedia references that make plain text search look very dull. Similarly, he cited the quality of content from Wikipedia, which is far more engaging for learning about things than using traditional sources. He gave other examples as well, but I think you get the idea.

Finally, to pull it all together, he touched on the validity of an advertising-driven business model to make this work. He noted that the broadband technology/bandwidth is ready now, and so is consumer demand. Much like television, the time is right for an ad-driven medium to take form. That basic idea went off in my head right away, and has stuck with me ever since. While we're talking about the Internet and Broadcast 2.0 - it's really just television all over again. We watch it for free, and the price of admission is the advertising. Pretty simple formula, and we'll soon find out if it works. I think we'll also find out pretty quick if it stays pure, and the content remains independent from the whims of the advertisers. I'm not so sure, but time will tell.

Just one more thing to comment about - the question everyone seems to ask - what did I see that was new or different? Geez - there's a lot I didn't see, and I'll just cite the ones I saw. I don't have the energy now to comment on each one, and instead urge you to visit their websites and see for yourself - and then you can come back to me and we'll go from there. Fair?

In no particular order, but there's a lot of wireless and WiFi here... Truphone (see Martin Geddes's post for more), Fonav, TalkPlus, Paragon Wireless, RingCentral, and Pika Technologies.


And.... just in case you need to know more, the usual suspects have written numerous posts, and they're all worth reading, especially Andy Abramson, Jim Courtney (Skype Journal), and Alec Saunders and Brough Turner.

That's enough for now. I have more, but will put it on the next post...


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Thursday, September 14, 2006

Fall VON - Photo/Video Highlights

Am back from Fall VON now, and have not had much chance at all to blog. Got a bunch of things coming, and this is the first one up. I'm just doing photos and a Herding Cats video clip here - really to showcase the Nokia N90, since it doubles as my camera/camcorder when I travel. More posts coming tomorrow - just too tired to do anything else right now!



Two ways to make yourself look larger than life - me and my shadow, and Jeff on one of the big video monitors during his keynote on Tuesday. It's ok for Jeff to be larger than life here - it was his birthday!

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Jeff doing his keynote, and one of his slides about how voice is really just an Internet application. Much of his keynote focused on how video is no different with IP, and that the same disruption we saw with voice is happening now with video.

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Jeff gave several examples of how video and broadcasting are quickly becoming Net-centric. He's just gotten into Second Life, and here's a shot of avatars watching Jeff present in his virtual world call Pulveria. The really cool thing is that Jeff actually conversed with one of these avatars in real time during his preso, which all of us could see and hear. For those of you who need something more that what real life has to offer, this is a pretty neat way to put your imagination to work in a virtual world.

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Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman of AOL probably gave the most dynamic presentation of the show, and really opened us up to some of the cool things that AOL is offering today, as they try to take Web 2.0 mainstream. While not quite the 10 Commandments, here are his 7 "web virtues" for success in this space. He's good!

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Other stuff of note. First, Iotum's screen interface at the AIM PhoneLine booth. They are one of the developers being showcased by AIM at the show. Second photo - the VON youth brigade - a panel called "Next Generation Networking - Literally". Some of these guys aren't old enought to drink yet, but they sure know what works in the Web 2.0 world.

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The blogger's panel - moderated by Alec Saunders, and joined by Jeff Pulver, Andy Abramson, Dan York, Martin Geddes, Brough Turner, and remotely via SightSpeed, Om Malik.

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If there's a sacred cow in Boston, it's my Red Sox. What a cool idea. If you must see this for yourself, it's in the lobby of the Marriott in Copley Square. Love the hat and the shoes!

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Time to move on to the party last night. Got some good photos - and lots of bad ones, plus a video clip down below. If you haven't seen the Herding Cats, you're missing the most fun band around, and they've become a staple at Jeff's parties.

Oh, and if you like this, and want to see more Herding Cats photos and video clips, you'll enjoy my post about their show at Globalcomm this summer.


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If you've seen the finale of their show, you'll know what song this is. The water spraying up from the drums is a great effect they use during Whole Lotta Love. I'm wondering if anyone out there noticed a subtle lick they managed to work in while they were grooving along on this song. It was a short take on Cream's Spoonful, which I picked up right away, being a Clapton afficianado. I just loved that one - anyone else out there catch that? I hadn't heard that one before - nice twist.

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Finally, here's my video clip of their take on Bon Jovi via my Nokia N90 - very fun. Gotta love YouTube...





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Tuesday, September 12, 2006

XConnect and iPeerX Join Forces

This is my first chance to blog at Fall VON, and just have time to cover this one. I'll be posting later about the keynotes from this morning by Jeff Pulver and Ted Leonsis of AOL.

Lots of interesting news releases at VON, and I wanted to comment on one I have had some history with. Today, the XConnect Alliance announced its acquisition of iPeerX. This is good news for the VoIP peering space, as XConnect moves further along the path to creating critical mass. VoIP peering has not yet become a necessary condition for carriers to succeed with IP, but slowly, the value proposition is becoming more relevant for carriers.

Both companies have had modest success signing up carriers to peer with them, but XConnect has been able to take their vision further, and are better positioned to become a consolidator. They have already shown this with an earlier acquisition of German-based e164.info in May.

Consolidation is happening across the board in the IP space, and peering is no exception. Peering is very much a volume business, and platforms such as the XConnect Alliance need to keep building their track record to demonstrate proof of concept especially for the Tier 1s, who will be the last to join the party. That�s when VoIP peering will really become exciting, but to get there, the foundation must be built among the willing and able, which for now, are primarily Tier 2/Tier 3 carriers with a strong commitment to IP.

The details of this deal are just as interesting as the bigger picture. XConnect founder and CEO Eli Katz announced the acquisition at a press conference this morning, and joining him was Kingsley Hill, who was President of iPeerX. Kingsley will now take on strategic business development for the multi-lateral peering federation XConnect is trying to build among it members. Between these companies, there are over 300 carriers on board, with the world�s largest VoIP ENUM registry � over 8.5 million active subscriber numbers. As such, there is definitely a strong base to build from here.

VON followers would know that iPeerX is a Jeff Pulver initiative that has been following its own course until now. This move makes sense for them, as it keeps them in the game, and it seems clear that the better route is to be part of a bigger pie than trying to keep a smaller slice to yourself � especially since there will only be room for a couple of players once this market goes mainstream. IPeerX hasn�t yet secured a large-scale win like the one XConnect achieved with the Dutch cable VoIP providers � so better to go with the flow, and help build this momentum. Jeff, who is never far from the center of where IP is going, will remain involved as a member of XConnect�s Advisory Board.

Disclosure � I am an Advisor to XConnect, and have tried to present this news as objectively as possible. If you feel I have overlooked or omitted anything of note, I welcome your comments.

Saturday, September 9, 2006

Pre-VON Reading

Just a quick note before signing off for Fall VON. I've had two articles just published - one solo for Telemanagement Magazine, and one co-written with Danny Klein of Vesbridge for Telecommunications Magazine. Thought I'd share them here for reading before the conference.

So, if you're interested in a couple of quick reads on things I'm writing about, you can find them in the Articles section of my website. Any feedback is appreciated!


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Friday, September 8, 2006

AIM Phoneline Story - Bloggers Have the Real Deal

I just wanted to quickly comment that some bloggers have correctly noted that the best coverage on AIM's Phoneline Developer Program news has come from the blogs, and not the mainstream business media. I was hinting at that yesterday, and maybe people picked up on that. Regardless, it's pretty clear that in this instance, the blogger community is far more plugged into what the story really means - not just at face value, but for the bigger picture we call Voice 2.0.

On this count, I especially wanted to cite posts from Alec Saunders and Jeff Pulver. Alec's post is particularly good because he points out how poor the coverage was from CNET, including their not being aware that TotalTalk had been shelved.

There are many well informed bloggers in this space who write well, and with a lot of valuable insight. In time, scenarios like this will become too frequent that big media will need to re-think their sources and start paying more attention to the blogger community. In the end, readers will be better served, and that's really the most important thing here. So, I'd chalk this one up as another W in the blogger win column!


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Canadian IP Thought Leaders Series - NewStep and FMC

This week's podcast was with Kevin McCracken, NewStep Networks's Director of Product Management. NewStep is based here in Toronto, and is a Bell Canada spinoff, now making their mark in the FMC space. Kevin and I talked about the current trends in FMC, and how it is gaining good traction in a pre-IMS environment. We also compared market conditions between U.S. and Canadian wireless opeators and how that impacts their FMC plans.

You can download the podcast here, as well as read more about Kevin and NewStep Networks.

FYI - I'll be at Fall VON next week, and my regular podcasts will resume the week after, with Vonage Canada being my scheduled guest. I'm hoping to do a podcast or two from the show floor at VON, so I should have something in the podcast bin next week for those need their weekly podfix.


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Thursday, September 7, 2006

AOL's AIM Developer Program - Purple Rain for Developers

As you probably know, I'm not in the news business, and you'll rarely see top-of-the-morning breaking stories here. Lots of other bloggers do that really well, and that's not my thing.

Today's announcement by AOL for their AIM PhoneLine Developer Program is a big story, and may well turn out to be a watershed for Voice 2.0 coming of age among mainstream providers. Everyone is a winner here - AOL, the developer partners, and ultimately subscribers. You can get a good look at this if you're attending Fall VON next week, where three vendors will be showcased by AOL - Iotum, MyNuMo, and mVox Technologies. With AOL's TotalTalk being phased out later this year, this really does look like a transition from Voice 1.0 to Voice 2.0 - something that will be very welcome by the IP community.

In addition to the above parties, Jeff Pulver has got to be pretty happy. Not only is AOL doing this showcase at his show, but these are the kinds of vendors that enable Voice 2.0 services, which are awfully close to the Purple Minutes holy grail Jeff has been searching for from service providers.

I'll segue now to Jeff Pulver's blog for my wrapup. I was privy to this news last night, but not able to post about it then. Other commitments (the paying kind!) prevented me from posting until now, and by now, the story has been done to death - and very well. So, if you're hearing about this story for the first time, I'm going to steer you to the multitude of blog posts that cover this story from many angles. My only insight to add is the fact that the blog coverage was so extensive and much of it happened right away - this itself tells you that AOL is on the right track with Phoneline, and that this is the kind of developer program many have been waiting for.

So, I would steer you to Jeff's post first. From there, it won't be hard to pick up the threads that will lead you to many other posts, all of which are worthy of a read, especially if you are wondering what all the fuss is about for Voice 2.0. I may be missing some, but I'd urge you to check out the posts from Alec Saunders, Andy Abramson, Mark Evans, Mathew Ingram, Jim Courtney, Ken Camp, Garrett Smith, Bruce Stewart, and James Enck.


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Toronto's WiFi Launch - Part 2

Yesterday, I posted about the basic details of this story, along with my overall take on Toronto Hydro Telecom's WiFi launch. I said it would be a short post, with a longer post to follow once the news was out.

Well, I'm reversing myself - that post was longer than planned, and this one will be short. Catherine McLean's story did not run in today's print edition of the Globe & Mail, but it did turn up in the online edition. There are more details about the launch there, and the only thing I really missed in yesterday's post was the pricing for rentals - it's $10 for a day, and $5 for an hour.

What I really love about online editions of newspapers are the reader comments, and there are some real interesting ones that show the range of viewpoints around this initiative. Of particular note is the comment that Toronto already has a free WiFi initiative, called Wireless Toronto - something I've been meaning to blog about for sometime (better do it quick before somebody else does!). Given my earlier posting about Fredericton's free WiFi service, I just have to mention the comment from someone in Fredericton praising their service - oh, and of course, his posting was made using their WiFi service!

Still, I haven't seen any talk about this story on the blogs - not sure why. Toronto Hydro Telecom now has news and information about the service - officially branded as OneZone on their website, but aside from Catherine's online article, that's about it.

So, for all you muni WiFi guys/gals out there, I hope you find this of interest!

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Wednesday, September 6, 2006

Toronto Hydro Telecom Launches WiFi Service

This is really part 1, and will be quite short. This afternoon I spoke with Catherine McLean of the Globe & Mail about today's launch. I've written about Toronto Hydro Telecom's WiFi initiative before, but was not in the loop for the news today. That said, I don't feel alone, as I've seen no sign of this story on the blogs, nor has the news been posted on their website.

In short, Toronto Hydro Telecom launched their WiFi service today, along with their much anticipated pricing. You can subscribe to it as a service for $29 a month, which is about $10 cheaper than the standard high speed offerings from our incumbents, Bell and Rogers. For travelers and surfers who just need their fix on demand, you can buy access for short terms, much like you would at any WiFi hotspot. I don't have the numbers on this, but I should have them tomorrow.

Right now, the service is free, and is available throughout most of the downtown Toronto core. During this honeymoon, I would expect the service to be pretty popular, but the big challenge comes when it reverts to a paid service.

There are so many questions here, and I'll just raise a few of them now. I don't know how the billing will be done, especially for the on demand services. Will they add this to your Hydro bill? Or will Toronto Hydro Telecom do their own billing? Or will they just use a credit card? Being a utility, are they now going to engage in expensive marketing/advertisting/branding to compete head on with Rogers and Bell for subscribers? And are they now going to be competing against those offering paid WiFi in hotspots? Can they really be a viable paid service just offering broadband access - without any cool content or apps? For those who want to be regular subscribers, they'll typically need a wireless router to access the signal indoors. How will this be supported? And finally, with the launch being delayed a few months, the free trial starts after the warm weather is over. This will likely be a drag on usage, as WiFi works best in outdoor spaces. In downtown Toronto, once you go indoors, it's not too hard to get broadband access, as people are typically at home or at work. Once the cold weather comes, I don't see too many people using this service. I'm sure they would have rather seen the launch take place earlier in the summer.

Today's news and these questions take me back my post last week about Fredericton's free WiFi service, which brought out a lot of important issues for this emerging space. Reading it again makes me wonder about what Toronto Hydro Telecom is getting into here. I think it's great that they're offering WiFi, but I'm concerned about the viability and their vision about what line of business they are really in.

I hope to have more on this tomorrow, but at least you've heard it here first.

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Tuesday, September 5, 2006

Podcasts Are Being Heard

As readers of my blog know, I do a weekly podcast series for Pulvermedia titled Canadian IP Thought Leaders. Podcasts are a great vehicle for discussion, but unlike live radio, it's pretty tough to tell who your audience is. I have a rough idea of how many people listen to my pods, but very little sense as to who listens or what people think, other than the comments that come back. It's also great to see that many of my guests are featuring the pods I do with them on their websites, so that's another form of validation.

Having said that, it was nice to see this blog post from Bruce Stewart of O'Reilly Emerging Telephony. It ran last week, but it just crossed my path over the weekend. He's got a great blog, and it was nice to see his good words about my last pod - with Jim Van Meggelen on Open Source - and my podcasts overall. It's nice to be heard, and I hope you keep on listening Bruce - I've got lots of good ones lined up for the Fall!




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Fall is Here - Showtime!

Summer is officially over, and you can feel it in the air, at least here in Toronto. The kids are back to school and it's time to think ahead to the Fall.

Next week is Fall VON - #10, so it's a big one. The buzz is not hard to find, especially on Jeff Pulver's blog, and hopefully I'll see you there.

I've never been busier with shows, and wanted to post about my schedule so people know where to find me if we happen to be doing the same things.

After Fall VON, I've got a bunch of shows in October, and a few others lined up for later in the year. My current schedule is up on my website now, and will be updated as things develop.


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Monday, September 4, 2006

Telio and Vonage Revisited � the Song Remains the Same

I may be the only one out there talking about these two operators in the same breath, and you know what? � I�m going to keep on doing it. Their IPOs were very close together, and in June I posted about them, and how they have taken two different paths to market while essentially being in the same business.

Last week, Telio posted its Q2 results, and Vonage did the same earlier last month. After having a cursory read of their filings, I felt it was a good time to revisit things and see if the storyline has materially changed. A line-by-line analysis of their filings may lead to such a conclusion, but a quick read was enough for me, especially since I�m following this space regularly. So, in short, my earlier position has only been validated by the Q2 results � Telio�s business model has a much better chance of success than Vonage�s.

Aside from Vonage�s post-IPO share price free fall, nothing dramatic has happened since their IPOs. The changes have really been incremental, and the Q2 numbers simply provide some substance to important trends that show how these two operators are on different trajectories.

First, let�s look at Telio. The big story there is crossing the 100,000 subscriber plateau in Q2. Compared to Vonage this is puny, but their main market, Norway, is 1/70th the size of the U.S., and relatively speaking, this is a noteworthy milestone. In addition to the total number growing, Telio is having success selling into multiple markets. Norway is their home base, but the Q2 numbers also show growth in Denmark and Holland.

On May 15, Telio also added a mobile offering via a reseller deal with Telenor. Their offering � Telio Mobil � represents a small fraction of the overall total, but provides valuable experience selling into the mobile market, which can only be good going forward. I�m not alone in thinking that this has long been a missing link for Vonage, and I suspect it�s late in the game for Vonage to be going down this road.

In short, the subscriber count is growing, revenues are growing, marketing costs are staying in check, and channels are expanding. In Denmark, Telio is available across 55 7-11 stores � can you imagine signing up for Vonage with your Big Slurpee in the U.S.? Not me. Another thing they�ve done is taken more of their telemarketing in-house, which they claim has resulted in �more than 20% increase in sales efficiency�. I�m not sure how you measure this, but it�s not a big leap to conclude this will be more economical than outsourcing.

The number that really jumps out for me is that for Q2, sales and marketing expenses were 15% of revenues � down from 17% in Q2 last year. Not only is the trend in the right direction, but the level of spend is orders of magnitude lower than Vonage, and really is the key to explaining the financial health of these operators.

Now let�s look at Vonage�s Q2. We all know what happened to their IPO, and this filing is a timely reality check. Their share price has settled into the $7-$8 range, more than 50% below opening day, but has been trending up recently, and is now just shy of $9.

As expected, subscriber growth continues to be strong, hitting a bit above 1.8 million in Q2. They�ve added a million subs since Q2 last year, which is probably more than all the U.S. VoIP pureplays combined. Correspondingly, the revenue story shows significant dollars, coming in just below $250 million for the first half of 2006.

As a sidebar to these particular numbers, I should add that in today�s NYT, there�s an interview with Jeff Citron, and the story reveals that Vonage has just topped 2 million subs. I wrote this post prior to seeing the NYT article, which I came across on Andy Abramson's blog today. Andy has a great analysis of the story and provides a link to the full text of the interview. I find the timing interesting that the day I run this post, there's a NYT interview with Jeff Citron. If anything, Jeff's comments reinforce much of what I'm saying here, and I didn't see anything there that would change my thinking.

On face value, the above fundamentals of subscribers and revenues are to die for in the VoIP market, but as we know, that�s just one side of the coin. I have no doubt that these numbers will continue to grow, but the Q2 filing shows signs of realism and the bigger picture which tells the full story.

First is the tacit recognition that the competitive environment will make the future less certain � �we do not expect to sustain our historical subscriber line growth rate��. That is not news, but comments like this are setting the stage for what Vonage knows will be a more normalized growth path.

Secondly, contrary to Telio�s story, there is no evidence that customer acquisition costs will be declining in a big way any time soon. Q2 marketing spend was $90 million - $1 million a day � up 46% from a year ago. A big part of this is the inevitable maturation of the VoIP market, as it shifts from early adopters to mass adoption. This is reflected by the need to shift spending from relatively inexpensive online advertising to mass market media like TV and direct mail. They may be spending big dollars for online marketing in an absolute sense, but clearly, to reach the broader market, Vonage will have to migrate to more expensive media and high profile event marketing such as this year�s World Cup.

In their words, �for 2006, we will continue to incur a significant amount of marketing costs as we pursue our growth strategy��. That says it all for me, as the name of the game appears to be acquire as many customers as possible � as opposed to a strategy of finding a more economical way to do business, even at the expense of rapid growth.

Finally, some commentary about the costs of doing business. As Vonage grows and competes more intensely against incumbents, they must bear a variety of costs, such as termination fees to legacy carriers, E-911 compliance, co-locating fees to expand their network, and porting phone numbers for new subscribers. So, while they report a slight decrease in direct costs from last year - $7.52 per line � it seems clear that over time, these costs will likely creep up.

There is a similar story on the revenue side. ARPU was $27.70 in Q2, up from $26.63 last year. This looks like good news until you realize that most of the increase is coming from the E-911 Cost Recovery fee they are now charging. Furthermore, starting in May, Vonage added free calling to some European countries, which will now slightly erode ARPU, since subscribers were previously paying for those calls.

And let�s not forget churn, the acid test metric for telcos. Q2 monthly churn was 2.3%, up slightly from 2.1% a year ago. The difference is small, but the trend is not in the right direction, and based on Telio�s claims, Vonage�s churn is quite a bit higher than theirs.

All of this points to a very challenging environment for Vonage, and I�d say their direction and prospects remains quite different from Telio. That said, I can�t help but cite Russell Shaw�s Aug. 30 post noting Vonage�s recent stock uptick. Their stock has been at $7 or less for several weeks, and Russell ponders if the current upward trend is sustainable. He�s pretty skeptical, and I�m of like mind.

I think the big issue and difference facing Vonage and Telio is the simple fact that the U.S. market is much more competitive, and as the MSOs start to dominate, it becomes harder for any VoIP pureplay to make a go of things. This is underscored by Vonage�s closest pureplay rival, Packet 8. They have been public for years, and have little to show for it. Their Q2 results tell a similar story to Vonage, but not quite as good.

Packet 8�s subscriber growth is positive, and they hit 151,000 lines in Q2 � 1/12th of Vonage. However, they report lower ARPU from last year, and churn is way up, from 2.6% to 4.1%. Q2 showed a modest operating loss of $6 million, but the scary number is the accumulated deficit of $201 million. Yeow. And the future doesn�t look much better � �we will continue to incur operating losses for the foreseeable future, and such losses may be substantial�.

So if this is the state of the nation for the #1 and #2 pureplay VoIP operators, you really have to wonder where the upside is � for anybody � these companies, their investors and their customers. One can only hope they can find a viable business model, or failing that, a buyer that understands how to profitably leverage their assets.

And to make things interesting, rising star SunRocket just announced fresh funding. They claim to have bigger numbers than Packet 8, and look to be ramping up to become the undisputed #2 VoIP pureplay. Looks like they can do that � especially with their aggressive annualized pricing plans - but I�m just wondering what that really adds up to. Clearly, some people still see value investing in this space, and maybe I�m missing something here. Whether I am or not, I�ll still take the Telio story over any of these, and until we see Q3 numbers I�m not about to change my mind.


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Friday, September 1, 2006

Fredericton, New Brunswick � the Right Way to do Muni WiFi

I�ll lay odds most of you don�t know that Fredericton is Canada�s first city to offer free WiFi, let alone even heard of the city. Well, they�ve been doing this since November 2003, and I think it�s a great story. Last week I was introduced to their WiFi evangelist, Don Fitzgerald. He�s the Executive Director of Team Fredericton, and we had a long conversation about what they�re up to. I finally got a chance to put this post together about it, and if you�re following muni WiFi, this will be a good read. And if you want more, Don will be my guest for my October 3rd podcast, so listen up then.

What I�ve been learning about muni WiFi is that every situation is different, and there�s no magic formula for making this work. There are so many variables in terms of existing broadband services, political issues, technology issues, financial issues, etc. In that regard, Fredericton is no different, and in their case WiFi has come out of a situation of necessity.

Telco providers initially launched broadband in New Brunswick in 1999, and were only focusing on the most densely populated markets. There aren�t many of them in Atlantic Canada, but Fredericton was not in the initial mix of priorities, so they were passed over by the telcos. Out of necessity � and vision � that�s the key here - they decided to do it themselves. Way back then, Fredericton saw how important broadband would be for their future. Believe it or not, Fredericton is a tech savvy community (86,000 strong) and has the kind of infrastructure that would benefit from broadband � such as e-learning, universities, medical research, government services etc. So it really was a vision thing that led them to embrace broadband early on.

To do this, they formed their own licensed telco � e-Novations - and laid a fiber optic ring around the city, which was initially used by the university and hydro utility. They soon started seeing demand from SMBs/SOHOs, and in 2001 became an ISP who could blanket the whole city to offer broadband. This turned out to be a good thing, as their success caused Aliant and Rogers to accelerate their broadband plans for Fredericton.

With that infrastructure in place, they started looking at WiFi and decided to offer it free. Don uses the analogy of sidewalks � WiFi is just basic infrastructure and it should be free for everyone to use. He made it clear that they are not a service provider offering voice - they�re just providing the broadband connection for people to use as they like. They could charge for voice, but don�t see why they should. Don noted that Fredericton is a knowledge-based community, and they simply believe this type of infrastructure is necessary, to �give them world class tools�. Isn�t the business of technology much simpler when your motives are so noble?

I really think that�s the core of what makes WiFi work so well there. To that point, we discussed other muni WiFi initiatives, both here and in the U.S., and Don is quite skeptical as to whether there�s an economic model for paid muni WiFi. I�m with him, and we agreed that deployments such Toronto Hydro Telecom will have a hard time making a go of things financially.

In Fredericton�s case, because the network is in place, the cost to add WiFi has been minimal, and as such, there is little pressure to recover their costs � which makes all the difference for how you go forward and offer services. It�s not about getting a more efficient way to do meter reading for utilities, and it�s not about getting an ROI on multi million dollar deals with vendors to build out a new network. I�ll take Fredericton�s scenario any day. They don�t need to make money off WiFi as their ISP operation is profitable on its own providing broadband access.

Interestingly, because the service is free, and there are no financial pressures, they don�t really monitor usage very closely, so he couldn�t tell me how much WiFi usage is voice versus data. He did say, though that they can get speeds of 40 MB or better, so there�s no problem supporting video for those who want it.

One would think that with such a great service being free, it would cause friction with the existing providers - much like the pushback Toronto Hydro Telecom is getting here from Rogers and Bell. On the contrary, says Don. First off, the number of people using their WiFi service is relatively small, so there's not a lot of money being left on the table. Secondly, this is Canada, eh. It gets really cold in the winter, and the usage of public WiFi is going to drop off quite a bit once the weather changes. The folks doing muni WiFi in warm places like Anaheim have no such problems! If anything, Don feels their WiFi will increase the overall usage/adoption of broadband, which can only be good news for Rogers and Aliant. E-Novations may be a broadband provider in its own right, but the incumbents have the vast majority of Fredericton's subscribers.

As with most muni WiFi offerings, theirs is used mainly in public spaces, and they have signs posted throughout the city that identify �Fred e-Zones�. How neat is that? Now that�s progress!


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So, the bottom line is that WiFi works in Fredericton because their city council had the right vision. Don noted this as he talked about how Fredericton is frequently consulted by municipalities on WiFi from around the world. The key to their success is to treat it as infrastructure � it�s an investment (and a modest one at that) in their future and ability to build on its strength as a �knowledge-based� city. It�s not about the business model, to which he notes that most city councils will have a hard time getting funding for. The problem is they think they need a business model, and that makes for a much more complex and riskier venture.

And finally, Fredericton isn�t stopping with WiFi. They�re coming up with some innovative applications to engage broadband users � free of course � and I guess you�ll just have to visit someday to see for yourself! And if you can�t, listen to our podcast, where we�ll explore this a bit further.


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